Living Fort Wayne offers free family-friendly film series

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WHAT: Living Fort Wayne Film Series featuring “Rudy” and “ET”WHEN: Music begins at 7:30 p.m. and the movie begins at 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30 and Saturday, Sept. 27WHERE: The Arts United Plaza, 300 E. Main St., in downtown Fort WayneCOST: FreeINFORMATION: For more information visit www.livingfortwayne.com.

The lights are dim, popcorn is popping and there's a warm blanket and comfortable chair. It's time to cuddle up and get cozy at Living Fort Wayne's Film Series.

Featuring classic movies in an outdoor setting, the family-friendly film series starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arts United Plaza, 300 E. Main St.

The series includes “Rudy” on Saturday and “E.T.” on Sept. 27. Both movies start at 8:45 p.m., but the fun opens early with live music beginning at 7:30 p.m.

It's hard to watch a movie without popcorn, so the Cinema Center will be making it available, and Fort Wayne food trucks will also be on hand for meals or snacks. To shake up the dinner and a movie idea, Main Street Bistro & Martini Lounge will have a Grab-N-Go dinner option including baked lasagna or a slice of cheese, pepperoni or sausage pizza and a drink for $7.99.

Sarah Pine, YLNI member and Living Fort Wayne event organizer, said one main goal was to create an event that the whole family could enjoy for free.

“Doing a movie outdoors is always a neat event in itself, but with summer wrapping up we wanted to make it more than that. We wanted to make it a family-friendly event people can come to for free to enjoy well-known movie at an outdoor location downtown and all with live music, too,” she said.

The most challenging part of the event, of course, was picking the movies. However, she said the group knew they wanted it to be a classic, good-feeling type of movie.

“First of all, having it being an event for families and all ages is the main goal, so we wanted it to be a movie that all ages can enjoy. We also wanted to pick movies that are (classics that) people have heard of and have seen and movies that people love. We are starting out with “Rudy” because with football season starting up, and there's a huge Notre Dame fanbase here, so we picked that first,” she said.

People are encouraged to bring blankets, chairs, snacks or dinner and even mosquito spray just in case. There is also a rain backup plan if the movie gets rained out – they will just move it inside the Arts United Center.

After seeing huge success with the Living Fort Wayne Concert Series, which invited people out to Headwaters Park West for a free concert along with a beer tent and plenty of room for kids to play, Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana is set to entertain Fort Wayne residents again.

The idea for the two community series came from the My City Summit earlier this summer, which asked attending community members to brainstorm ideas for community events.

Living Fort Wayne had other organizations jump on board to sponsor and partner, including the Arts United Center, Wunderkammer Company, the Cinema Center and 95.1 Best FM.